Acqua alta, or high tide, is what Venice is of course famous for, but extremely low tide (or bassa marea), like the ones we've been having lately, can make the canals impassable for boats--which is a real problem in a city that depends upon water transport.
Fortunately, tonight's tide (and more than a few boats along with it) bottomed out at 6:20 pm, at 50 cm below the standard tidal level, after the main business of the day was finished. By 1 am it was forecast to reach a high of 40 cam above the standard tidal level (though well below the point at which even the lowest parts of the city flood).
Any boats tied too tightly to, or otherwise snagged somehow on their pali (wood--or synthetic--stakes) may be submerged in the incoming tide.
Not enough water is the opposite of what we are experiencing here in UK (flooding and storms). Wonderful shots.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Freda, Nature seems to be little inclined to moderation these days, instead, we end up with way too much or nothing at all. But, in contrast to the flooding in the UK, at least this extreme in Venice disappears within 6 hours as the tide comes in.
DeleteIt's been quite remarkable to see this.
ReplyDeleteThe city's always got something up its sleeve, Yvonne...
DeleteMid part of USA has the opposite with 18" of rain in some areas, major flooding. Beautiful pictures, thanks for sharing
ReplyDeleteThank you, Jack. We're usually lucky here in that high water here goes down naturally within 6 hours as part of the normal tidal rhythm (with the notable exception of the infamous flood of 1966, when "perfect storm" conditions prevented the first high tide from going out before the next high tide came in). But, unfortunately, too much rain is just too much rain and there's no tide that's going to carry it out to sea--especially from the middle of the US!
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